NationStates Jolt Archive

After five long years of intellectual stagnation, working at the supermarket and other minimum wage paying extortionist establishments, I've finally gotten my ass in gear and decided to do something useful with my life. And now I'm pleased to announce that I've been accepted into the Bachelor of Arts program at my local post-secondary institution. And for some reason, I am absolutely extatic! Hurray for me, hurray!!!! Any thoughts?

After five long years of intellectual stagnation, working at the supermarket and other minimum wage paying extortionist establishments, I've finally gotten my ass in gear and decided to do something useful with my life. And now I'm pleased to announce that I've been accepted into the Bachelor of Arts program at my local post-secondary institution. And for some reason, I am absolutely extatic! Hurray for me, hurray!!!! Any thoughts?

Most colleges are rife with liberal filth and marxist agitprop. They are brainwashing factories turning those who hold normal Western Christian values into corrupted and twisted marxist zombies.

But that is just most colleges. There are good colleges, such as Bob Jones University.

No, this University is as red as they get, unfortunatly. Oh well, I guess I'll just have that much more fun, since I'll have plenty of opportunity to piss lefty profs off with my conservative Christian ramblings. Bwahahaha!

How do you plan to finance/fund your own tertiary education? Thats always the crunch issue of whether you can stay in a University, academic performance is secondary to that.

Other than that - stay focussed on why you're there, studying. Having fun means you'd end up where you started, you'd end up working menial jobs. Good luck.

JiangGuo -> Has a University degree, so is qualified to comment on this matter.

How do you plan to finance/fund your own tertiary education? Thats always the crunch issue of whether you can stay in a University, academic performance is secondary to that.

Other than that - stay focussed on why you're there, studying. Having fun means you'd end up where you started, you'd end up working menial jobs. Good luck.

JiangGuo -> Has a University degree, so is qualified to comment on this matter.

Thanks for the good advice!
As for funding my education, well, I plan to take out a massive student loan which hopefully I'll be able to pay off once I've completed my education and gotten a shiny new well paying job.

Thanks for the good advice!
As for funding my education, well, I plan to take out a massive student loan which hopefully I'll be able to pay off once I've completed my education and gotten a shiny new well paying job.

What country are you in again? I know it ain't Ireland - where someone who qualifies can apply for TOTALLY free tertiary education. Don't know what it is like now.

In that aspect, Ireland ROCKS.

(Natural red-haired ladies aren't bad either.)

(Guiness the alcoholic beverage. 'nuff said!)

JiangGuo

Yes, that does rock...wow. I live in Canada, we don't have that kind of luxury here. Here a price is still put on education. The bastards.

College is grand...although damn expensive.

True that.

After five long years of intellectual stagnation, working at the supermarket and other minimum wage paying extortionist establishments, I've finally gotten my ass in gear and decided to do something useful with my life. And now I'm pleased to announce that I've been accepted into the Bachelor of Arts program at my local post-secondary institution. And for some reason, I am absolutely extatic! Hurray for me, hurray!!!! Any thoughts?
Congratulations. In spite of being the burnt-out, jaded product of 7 years of university study, I'm glad to see that you've dedided to move on to tertiary study. It's an experience that can really broaden your mind. You'll probably enjoy it more, having taken time out to think things through, rather than rushing straight from school to university as I did.

And remember, it's very important to turn up to exams sober. ;)

And don't upset the admin staff. They have strange & terrible powers. :eek:

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

so many people want an education but don't get it. those who can afford it should go and study as much as possible. GOD BLESS!

After five long years of intellectual stagnation, working at the supermarket and other minimum wage paying extortionist establishments, I've finally gotten my ass in gear and decided to do something useful with my life. And now I'm pleased to announce that I've been accepted into the Bachelor of Arts program at my local post-secondary institution. And for some reason, I am absolutely extatic! Hurray for me, hurray!!!! Any thoughts?

What do you plan to do after the course?

After five long years of intellectual stagnation, working at the supermarket and other minimum wage paying extortionist establishments, I've finally gotten my ass in gear and decided to do something useful with my life. And now I'm pleased to announce that I've been accepted into the Bachelor of Arts program at my local post-secondary institution. And for some reason, I am absolutely extatic! Hurray for me, hurray!!!! Any thoughts?

Congratulations, man. You'll have the time of your life if you do it properly. If you don't mind, here's some advice:

Stay out of student politics, unless you want to be a politician. There are few things more depressing than seeing people you remember as utter brain-dead politico cabbages of any stripe or hue getting elected as lobby-fodder ten years later. Avoid that bitter discombobulation by steering clear of political clubs and societies, which tend to be nothing more than training grounds on how to avoid independent thought and agree with a party line simply because it's the party line.

Disagree with your tutors if you want to, but be advised: they may not always look it but most of them are *very* smart, and practically all of them are much more informed than you are at present. People who don't appreciate this fact are probably missing the point entirely.

Read books. Lots of them. I can't stress this enough. You wouldn't believe the numbers of students who seem to think that "research" means "looking shit up on the internet". Spend time in the library. Try to cultivate the Library Angels. A good initial approach is to check the bibliographies in the recommended texts and see if anything interesting mentioned there is also in the library.

If you're doing an Arts course, try to hang out with scientists as much as possible. They are a strange people, but the intellectual and evidence-based rigour of their subjects is worth trying to imitate as far as possible -- it helps to develop the difference between opinion and argument. Plus, the amount of money they have to spend on really expensive set texts can make you appreciate your academic choice more.

Good for you. How old are you now?

Try to cultivate the Library Angels.

Also remember that the only people who actually know what the hell is going on are the departmental secretaries.

And buy a pair of Doc Martin boots.


What?

And buy a pair of Doc Martin boots.


What?
With white laces. :D

Congratulations, man. You'll have the time of your life if you do it properly. If you don't mind, here's some advice:

Which I will add to :D

Stay out of student politics, unless you want to be a politician. There are few things more depressing than seeing people you remember as utter brain-dead politico cabbages of any stripe or hue getting elected as lobby-fodder ten years later. Avoid that bitter discombobulation by steering clear of political clubs and societies, which tend to be nothing more than training grounds on how to avoid independent thought and agree with a party line simply because it's the party line.

Ehh. Definitely don't join political clubs unless you really care about an issue and absolutely must join. The political and religious groups at uni are all bullshit, and joining one is automatically putting your name down to attend indoctrinating private lectures and disorganised protest marches every weekend as well as possibly giving a portion of your money to produce posters, magazines, etc. (I won't join even the leftist ones which I agree with...if you want to discuss politics, do it among friends. you'll meet plenty of politically interested people at uni, espeically in an arts degree.)

Disagree with your tutors if you want to, but be advised: they may not always look it but most of them are *very* smart, and practically all of them are much more informed than you are at present. People who don't appreciate this fact are probably missing the point entirely.

Definitely disagree with them in class discussions, just disagree in an intelligent manner and your tutors will respect you in return. Most of them like it when students express an opinion and stimulate discussion.

Read books. Lots of them. I can't stress this enough. You wouldn't believe the numbers of students who seem to think that "research" means "looking shit up on the internet". Spend time in the library. Try to cultivate the Library Angels. A good initial approach is to check the bibliographies in the recommended texts and see if anything interesting mentioned there is also in the library.

Agree completely. Theres no need to read everything though, but try and plan your essay topics a few weeks before they are due, and try and "specialize" your knowledge. EG, if doing 20th century history, you might want to try and become a minor expert on the world wars, or perhaps the great depression, etc.

If you're doing an Arts course, try to hang out with scientists as much as possible. They are a strange people, but the intellectual and evidence-based rigour of their subjects is worth trying to imitate as far as possible -- it helps to develop the difference between opinion and argument. Plus, the amount of money they have to spend on really expensive set texts can make you appreciate your academic choice more.

Heh, well, I'm upgrading to an Arts/Science double degree at the end of the year so i'll be unstoppable :D

Oh yeah, and be warned, you will have to endure friendly ridicule from the students from other faculties who consider arts a degree without any work. I can't say I disagree much, it's not that difficult...but there is a lot of reading involved. Then again, you'll have heaps of spare time to do it in, lol.

BTW, congrats :)

Good luck paying for college.

:p